Saturday, December 5, 2009

Babies

My sister Laura had a beautiful healthy baby boy last Monday. We're rejoicing at his arrival, but collecting ourselves after the trauma Laura went through. She hemorrhaged after delivery, and ended up back in the OR for surgery, followed by a transfusion of 7 bags of blood in short order. In another age or a different place, she wouldn't have survived.

Laura and baby Jacob are now home, but it will be a while before she feels like herself again. The residual effects of her experience include fluid on her lungs, anemia, fatigue, and high blood pressure. But she will recover.

It makes me wonder, when I think of Mary accepting her pregnancy 2000 years ago, if she gave any thought to the physical risks involved. There were any number of reasons to say no to the angel's request. And yet, faced with all of it, she just said yes. I wish I had that kind of courage.